Short audio/video plus-one by Brian Johnson and a co-speaker emphasizing that greatness depends on how quickly we recover from setbacks. The piece uses anecdotes (a Hollywood director’s audition test) and philosophical exemplars (Marcus Aurelius and Morihei Ueshiba via Michael Gelb) to advocate treating glitches as prompts to practice equanimity; closes with a practical tip to rehearse recovery in small moments.
Hi, this is Brian.
Welcome back to another heroic one. In the last couple plus ones, we talked about Yoda's wisdom on who's going to be a star. As you may recall, Phil told me that a Hollywood movie director once told him that he knew who was going to be a star based on one thing. In short, the speed with which that person recovered from a poor audition. And guess what? That same basic truth this that it's all about how quickly we can go through the process of winning or learning. That is the key to greatness in every domain. This is why Phil says that the most creative act in the universe is the speed with which we can recover from what he calls a glitch. Something go wrong?
Perfect.
You're human. Things will always inevitably go wrong. So quit being surprised by that fact of life. All caps. Quit being surprised by that fact of life. Things are going to go wrong. Simply use that glitch as a cue trigger prompt to practice your philosophy and make it a game to see just how fast you can recover your equanimity. I love to do this with Marcus Aurelius and Morihe Usheba in mind. In fact, I was chatting about this while on a drive to the airport with one of our heroic team members after I flew to Europe to coach some elite athletes. Thanks Brian for the ride and for the great chat.
Aurelius puts it this way, when force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self control and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it. We call that the equanimity game. While in his book the Art of Connection, Michael Gelb tells us, one of Uesheba's students put it this way. In the 1990s, I trained regularly at the dojo of one of the great contemporary aikido masters. A resident student with o Sensei for 15 years before being sent to the United States to represent the art, he shared many stories of his time with Usheba. He recounted the awe with which all the resident students beheld their master. On one occasion, he exclaimed to his teacher, your techniques are perfect. You never make any mistakes. You never lose your center. O Sensei replied, I lose my center frequently. I just find it again so quickly that you can't see it. And that's today's plus one. Hit a glitch today. Perfect. Quit acting surprised. You're not going to be the first perfect human being. Use that oops moment as a cue trigger prompt to practice your philosophy. See how fast you can recover your equanimity today. PS Pro tip Practice in the little moments so you have the strength to dominate the big moments.
